The city of Calgary is seeking public input on what to do with the aging Stephen Avenue Mall.
The mixed pedestrian-roadway hasn’t been renovated since the 1980s and is starting to show its age.
Bricks have come loose over the years and the cement work is cracking. The city has been patching these rough spots but it’s not exactly a good look for the city’s downtown.
“Our master plan will actually consider the space from Olympic Plaza all the way to Mewata Armoury on 11 Street S.W.,” said Michael Magnan with the city. “We really want to extend the energy Stephen Avenue has right now. It may not be a pedestrian mall all the way to that length, but [we want to] try and capture the character of the community and the great parts we already have and extend it forward.”
Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell said the current design isn’t very efficient.
“We have a lot of on-street parking. We have squeezed the pedestrians to an unreasonable amount. After 6 o’clock the pedestrian becomes secondary; they have to move through all these obstacles through [a] redesign.”
Requests for proposals from design companies will follow in the new year and the plan should be done by January 2020.
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The public can submit their input on the city of Calgary’s website.
— With files from Global News’ Doug Vaessen.